Integral Education

Michael Bakunin Folio 2, March 1986 ISSN 0267-61 1

In the following four essays on education published in Eqalite (Geneva) between July and August 18 !" #a$unin argues that where there e%ists differing degrees of education" class society is inevitable& Anarchists" he insists" 'ust see$ equality and" therefore" integral education sa'e education available for everyone& ( It is to the interest of both labour and science there 'ust no longer be this division into wor$ers and scholars ) henceforth there 'ust only be 'en& *he first topic for consideration today is this will it be feasible for the wor$ing 'asses to $now co'plete e'ancipation as long as the education available to those 'asses continues to be inferior to that bestowed upon the bourgeois" or" in 'ore general ter's" as long as there e%ists any class" be it nu'erous or otherwise" which" by virtue of birth" is entitled to a superior education and a 'ore co'plete instruction+ ,oes not the question answer itself+ Is it not self)evident that of any two persons endowed by nature with roughly equivalent intelligence" one will have the edge ) the one whose 'ind will have been broadened by learning and who" having the better grasped the inter) relationships of natural and social pheno'ena (what we 'ight ter' the laws of nature and of society) will the 'ore readily and 'ore fully grasp the nature of his surroundings+ And that this one will feel" let us say" a greater liberty and" in practical ter's" show a greater aptitude and capability than his fellow+ It is natural that he who $nows 'ore will do'inate hi' who $nows less& And were this disparity of education and education and learning the only one to e%ist between two classes" would not all the others swiftly follow until the world of 'en itself in its present circu'stances" that is" until it was again divided into a 'ass of slaves and a tiny nu'ber of rulers" the for'er labouring away as they do today" to the advantage of the latter+ -ow we see why the bourgeois socialists de'and only a little education for the people" a soupcon 'ore than they currently receive. whereas we socialist de'ocrats de'and" on the people(s behalf" co'plete and integral education" an education as full as the power of intellect today per'its" /o that" henceforth" there 'ay not be any class over the wor$ers by virtue of superior education and therefore able to do'inate and e%ploit the'& *he bourgeois socialists want to see the retention of the class syste' each class" they contend" fulfilling a specific social function. one specialising" say" in learning" and the other in 'anual labour& 0e" on the other hand" see$ the final and the utter abolition of classes. we see$ a unification of society and equality of social and econo'ic provision for every individual on this earth& *he bourgeois socialists" whilst retaining the historic bases of the society of today" would li$e to see the' beco'e less star$" less harsh and 'ore prettified& 0hereas we should li$e to see their destruction& 1ro' which it follows that there can be no truce or co'pro'ise" let alone any coalition between the bourgeois socialists and us socialist de'ocrats& #ut" I have heard it said and this is the argu'ent 'ost frequently raised against us and an argu'ent which the dog'atists of every shade regard as irrefutable ) it is i'possible that the whole of 'an$ind should devote itself to learning" for we should all die of starvation& 2onsequently while so'e study others 'ust labour so that they can produce what we need to live ) not 3ust producing for their own needs" but also for those 'en who devote the'selves e%clusively to intellectual pursuits. aside fro' e%panding the hori4ons of hu'an $nowledge" the discoveries of these intellectuals i'prove the condition of all hu'an beings" without e%ception" when applied to industry" agriculture and" generally" to political and social life. agreed+ And do not their artistic creations enhance the lives of every one of us+ -o" not at all& And the greatest reproach which we can level against science and the arts is precisely

that they do not distribute their favours and do not e%ercise their influence" e%cept upon a tiny frag'ent of society" to the e%clusion and" thus" to the detri'ent of the vast 'a3ority& *oday one 'ight say of the advances of science and of the arts" 3ust what has already and so properly been said of the prodigious progress of industry" trade" credit" and" in a word" of the wealth of society in the 'ost civilised countries of the 'odern world& *hat wealth is quite e%clusive" and the tendency is for it to beco'e 'ore so each day" as it beco'es concentrated into an ever shrin$ing nu'ber of hands" shunning the lower echelons of the 'iddle class and the petite bourgeoisie" depressing the' into the proletariat" so that the growth of this wealth is the direct cause behind the growing 'isery of the labouring 'asses& *hus the outco'e is that the gulf which yawns between the privileged" contented 'inority and 'illions of wor$ers who earn their $eep by the strength of their ar' yawns ever wider and that the happier the contented ) who )e%ploit the people(s labour beco'e the 'ore unhappy the wor$ers beco'e& 5ne has only to loo$ at the fabulous opulence of the aristocratic" financier" co''ercial and industrial clique in England and co'pare it with the 'iserable condition of the wor$ers of the sa'e country. one has only to re)read the so naive and heartrending letter lately penned by an intelligent and upright golds'ith of 6ondon" one 0alter ,ugan" who has 3ust voluntarily ta$en poison along with his wife and their si% children" si'ply as a 'eans of escape fro' the degradation(s of poverty and the tor'ents of hunger (1) ) and one will find oneself obliged to concede that the 'uch vaunted civilisation 'eans" in 'aterial ter's" to the people" only oppression and ruination& And the sa'e holds true for the 'odern advances of science and the arts& 7uge strides" indeed" it is true #ut the greater the advances" the 'ore they foster intellectual servitude and thus" in 'aterial ter's" foster 'isery and inferiority as the lot of the people. for these advances 'erely widen the gulf which already separates the people(s level of understanding fro' the levels of the privileged classes& 1ro' the point of view of natural capacity" the intelligence of the for'er is" today" obviously less stunted" less e%ercised" less sophisticated and less corrupted by the need to defend un3ust interests" and is" consequently" naturally of greater potency than the brain power of the bourgeoisie8 but" then again" the brain power of the bourgeois does have at its disposal the co'plete arsenal of science filled with weapons that are indeed for'idable& It is very often the case that a highly intelligent wor$er is obliged to hold his tongue when confronted by a learned fool who defeats hi'" not by dint of intellect (of which he has none) but by dint of his education" an education denied the wor$ing'an but granted the fool because" while the fool was able to develop his foolishness scientifically in schools" the wor$ing 'an(s labours were clothing" housing" feeding hi' and supplying his every need" his teachers and his boo$s" everything necessary to his education& Even within the bourgeois class" as we $now only too well" the degree of learning i'parted to each individual is not the sa'e& *here" too" there is a scale which is deter'ined" not by the potential of the individual but by the a'ount of wealth of the social stratu' to which he belongs by birth. for e%a'ple" the instruction 'ade available to the children of the lower petite bourgeoisie" whilst itself scarcely superior to that which wor$ers 'anage to obtain for the'selves" is ne%t to nothing by co'parison with the education that society 'a$es readily available to the upper and 'iddle bourgeoisie& 0hat" then" do we find+ *he petite bourgeoisie" whose only attach'ent to the 'iddle class is through a ridiculous vanity on the one hand" and its dependence upon the big capitalists on the other" finds itself 'ost often in circu'stances even 'ore 'iserable and even 'ore hu'iliating than those which afflict the proletariat& /o when we tal$ of privileged classes" we never have in 'ind this poor petite bourgeoisie which" if it did but have a little 'ore spirit and gu'ption" would not delay in 3oining forces with us to co'bat the big and 'ediu' bourgeoisie who crush it today no less than they crush the proletariat& And should society(s current econo'ic trends continue in the sa'e direction for a further ten years (which we do" however" regard as i'possible) we 'ay yet see the bul$ of the 'ediu' bourgeoisie tu'ble first of all into the current circu'stances of the petite bourgeoisie only to slip a little later into the proletariat ) as a result" of course" of this inevitable concentration of ownership into an ever s'aller nu'ber of hands ) the ineluctable consequences of which would be to partition society once and for all into a tiny" overweaningly opulent" educated" ruling 'inority and a vast 'a3ority of i'poverished" ignorant" enslaved proletarians&

*here is one fact which should 'a$e an i'pression upon every person of conscience" upon all who have at heart a concern for hu'an dignity and 3ustice. that is" for the liberty of each individual a'id and through a setting of equality for all& *hat is the fact that all of the intelligentsia" all of the great applications of science to the purpose of industry" trade and to the life of society in general have thus far profited no one" save the privileged classes and the power of the /tate" that ti'eless cha'pion of all political and social iniquity& -ever" not once" have they brought any benefit to the 'asses of the people& 0e need only list the 'achines and every wor$ing'an and honest advocate of the e'ancipation of labour would accept the 3ustice of what we say& #y what power do the privileged classes 'aintain the'selves today" with all their insolent s'ugness and iniquitous pleasures" in defiance of the all too legiti'ate outrage felt by the 'asses of the people+ Is it by so'e power inherent in their persons+ -o ) it is solely through the power of the /tate" in whose apparatus today their offspring hold" always" every $ey position (and even every lower and 'iddle range position) e%cepting that of soldier and wor$er& And in this day and age what is it that constitutes the principle underlying the power of the /tate+ 0hy" it is science& 9es" science ) /cience of govern'ent" science of ad'inistration and financial science. the science of fleecing the floc$s of the people without their bleating too loudly and" when they start to bleat" the science of urging silence" patience and obedience upon the' by 'eans of a scientifically organised force8 the science of deceiving and dividing the 'asses of the people and $eeping the' allays in a salutary ignorance lest they ever beco'e able" by helping one another and pooling their efforts" to con3ure up a power capable of overturning /tates. and" above all" 'ilitary science with all its tried and tested weaponry" these for'idable instru'ents of destruction which (wor$ wonders( (:)8 and lastly" the science of genius which has con3ured up stea'ships" railways and telegraphy which" by turning every govern'ent into a hundred ar'ed" a thousand ar'ed #riareos (;)" giving it the power to be" act and arrest everywhere at once ) has brought about the 'ost for'idable political centralisation the world has ever witnessed& 0ho" then" will deny that" without e%ception" all of the advances 'ade by science have thus far brought nothing" save a boosting of the wealth of the privileged classes and of the power of the /tate" to the detri'ent of the well)being and liberty of the 'asses of the people" of the proletariat+ #ut" we will hear the ob3ection" do not the 'asses of the people profit by this also+ Are they not 'uch 'ore civilised in this society of ours than they were in the societies of byegone centuries+ 0e shall reply to that with an observation borrowed fro' the noted Ger'an socialist" 6assalle& In 'easuring the progress 'ade by the wor$ing 'asses" in ter's of their political and social e'ancipation" one should not co'pare their intellectual state in this century with what it 'ay have been in centuries gone by& Instead" one ought to consider whether" by co'parison with so'e given ti'e" the gap which then e%isted between the wor$ing 'asses and the privileged classes having been noted" the 'asses have progressed to the sa'e e%tent as these privileged classes& 1or" if the progress 'ade by both has been roughly equivalent" the intellectual gap which separates the 'asses fro' the privileged in today(s world will be the sa'e as it ever was. but if the proletariat has progressed further and 'ore rapidly than the privileged" then the gap 'ust necessarily have narrowed. but if" on the other hand" the wor$er(s rate of progress has been slower and" consequently" less than that of a representative of the ruling classes over the sa'e period" then that gap will have grown& *he gulf which separates the' will have increased and the 'an of privilege grown 'ore powerful and the wor$er(s circu'stances 'ore ab3ect" 'ore slave li$e than at the date one chose as the point of departure& If the two of us set off fro' two different points at the sa'e ti'e and you have a lead of one hundred paces over 'e and you 'ove at a rate of si%ty paces per 'inute" and I at only thirty paces per 'inute" then after one hour the distance which separates us will not be 3ust over one hundred paces" but 3ust over one thousand nine hundred paces& *hat e%a'ple gives a roughly accurate notion of the respective advances 'ade by the bourgeoisie and the proletariat& *hus far the bourgeoisie has raced along the trac$ of civilisation at a quic$er rate than the proletariat" not because they are intellectually 'ore powerful than the latter indeed one 'ight properly argue the contrary case ) but because the political and econo'ic organisation of

society has been such that" hitherto" the bourgeoisie alone have en3oyed access to learning and science has e%isted only for the'" and the proletariat has found itself doo'ed to a forced ignorance" so that if the proletariat has" nevertheless" 'ade progress (and there is no denying it has) then that progress was 'ade not than$s to society" but rather in spite of it& *o su' up& In society as presently constituted" the advances of science have been at the root of the relative ignorance of the proletariat" 3ust as the progress of industry and co''erce have been at the root of its relative i'poverish'ent& *hus" intellectual progress and 'aterial progress have contributed in equal 'easure towards the e%acerbation of the slavery of the proletariat& <eaning what+ <eaning that we have a duty to re3ect and resist that bourgeois science" 3ust as we have a duty to re3ect and resist bourgeois wealth& And re3ect and resist the' in this sense ) that in destroying the social order which turns it into the preserve of one or of several classes" we 'ust lay clai' to it as the co''on inheritance of all the world& =Egalite" ;1 July 18 !> ??????????????????????????? @And in this day and age what is it that constitutes the principle underlying the power of the /tate+ 0hy" it is science& 9es" science ) /cience of govern'ent" science of ad'inistration and financial science. the science of fleecing the floc$s of the people without their bleating too loudly and" when they start to bleat" the science of urging silence" patience and obedience upon the' by 'eans of a scientifically organised force8 the science of deceiving and dividing the 'asses of the people and $eeping the' allays in a salutary ignorance lest they ever beco'e able" by helping one another and pooling their efforts" to con3ure up a power capable of overturning /tates.@ <ichael #a$unin 18 !